Putin: Russia must maintain positive economic trend in 2023

MOSCOW, Jan 17 (PRIME) -- Russia must maintain a positive economic trend of last year in 2023, President Vladimir Putin said on Tuesday at a government meeting on economic issues held in the form of a videoconference.

"I will emphasize that many key areas, such as construction, agriculture, industry… and some others not only fell last year, but in spite of the unpreceded external pressure that we have mentioned many times, raised output," he said.

"Our goal is to maintain, consolidate the positive trend."

The gross domestic product (GDP) decreased by 2.1% in January–November and is to fall by 2.5% in 2022, he said. Budget spending grew significantly and exceeded 31 trillion rubles, and as a result deficit amounted to 3.3 trillion rubles, or 2.3% of the GDP.

The president urged to raise people's income in 2023 significantly to offset the effects of inflation. There are still problems with part-time employment and lower wages in several regions, he said. Putin estimated inflation in 2022 at 11.9% and said that in January–March, consumer prices may grow by 5% and in April–June by less than 4%.

Russia's gas output decreased by 11.8% in 2022, but higher international price allowed the producers to raise their contribution to the budget by about 10% to 27.8 trillion rubles, he said.

"Natural gas output decreased, the volume fell 11.8%. At the same time, I should note that the global gas prices grew significantly, as you know, due to the activities of Western countries, and as a result, the Russian gas producers and exporters had a good profit in the last two years and raised payments to the budget system of the country significantly," Putin said.

Putin estimated the oil output rise in 2022 at about 2% to 535 million tonnes.

He said that Russia must stop exporting lumber and start using the entire amount locally.

(68.2892 rubles – U.S. $1)

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